American troops tending to a casualty on Hill Timothy during an action against the Viet Cong, Vietnam War, April 1968. . I served in the Army for three years. On both sides, there were almost 2 million civilians dead and 1.1 simply on the Vietnamese side. The soldier was one of more than 100 who were wounded during Viet Cong attacks on two U.S. military compounds at Pleiku, 240 miles north of Saigon. [8], Lewy estimates that 40,000 South Vietnamese civilians were assassinated by the PAVN/VC; 300,000 were killed as a result of combat in South Vietnam, and 65,000 were killed in North Vietnam for a total of 405,000 killed. The Viet Cong (Vietnamese: Vit Cng; pronounced [vt kwm] ()) was an armed communist revolutionary organization in South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.Its military force, the Liberation Army of South Vietnam (LASV), fought under the direction of North Vietnam, against the South Vietnamese and United States governments during the Vietnam War, 1) One of the more amazing stories to emerge from the eight-year secret war during the Vietnam War took place on October 5 . qung co. Chapter 14: "The cease-fire war claimed 26,500 ARVN dead in 1973, and almost 30,000 in 1974. Rain, humidity, dirt, and heavy use made the flashlight unreliable and would turn on and off while moving. Photo Summary: General Nguyen Ngoc Loan killing Vietcong operative Nguyen Van Lem. I was promoted to Staff Sgt. [93][97], Civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, John Lewis, Muhammad Ali and others, criticized the racial disparity in both casualties and representation in the entire military, prompting the Pentagon to order cutbacks in the number of African Americans in combat positions. [26], RJ Rummel estimated that American forces killed around 5,500 people in democide between 1960 and 1972, from a range of between 4,000 and 10,000. After recovering from my wound, I taught basic trainees at Fort Knox. Note: Three U.S. Navy SEALs were recipients of the Medal of Honor during Vietnam. The revelations of the My Lai massacre caused morale to plummet even further, as GIs wondered what other atrocities their superiors were concealing. The Viet Cong were the guerrilla force that, with the support of the North Vietnamese Army, fought against South Vietnam and its allies. April 1, 1966. [79], The total number of American personnel who were KIA or died non-hostile deaths, were enlisted personnel with a casualty number of 50,441. Eyewitness accounts of the My Lai massacre; story by Seymour Hersh Nov. 20, 1969. I went through jump school at Fort Benning, Ga., and was sent to the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky. Despite finding only a few weapons, Calley ordered his men to begin shooting the villagers. The two countries finally resumed formal diplomatic relations in 1995. One, went to Vietnam Two, killed the Vietcong Three, didn't smoke no grass Four, kicked a-lot ass One, Louder Two, Louder Three, Louder Four, Louder 1, 2, 3, 4 United States Marine Coprs, Ooh-Rah (ooh-rah) Ooh-Rah (ooh-rah) Here we go (here we go) On a run (on a run) Just for fun (just for fun) Oh Yeah (oh yeah) Submit lyrics correction 55k Like Quang Ngai province was therefore a frequent target of U.S. and South Vietnamese bombing attacks, and the entire region was heavily strafed with Agent Orange, the deadly herbicide. 1) | SOFREP. The image of Lem's execution, and public reaction to it, played a small role in bringing the Vietnam War to an end. A company of American soldiers brutally killed most of the peoplewomen, children and old menin the village of My Lai on March 16, 1968. Just for fun (just for fun) All of them were listed on the Vietnam War Memorial located in Washington D.C. In addition, at least 36,000 Southern civilians were executed for various reasons in the period 19671972. One escapee died of wounds sustained during his rescue 15 days later. In 1995 Vietnam released its official estimate of the number of people killed during the Vietnam War: as many as 2,000,000 civilians on both sides and some 1,100,000 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong fighters. [48] In December 1966, the Blue Dragon Brigade reportedly perpetrated the Bnh Ha massacre. "Like World War I . Davis was wounded again when an enemy soldier "engaged him at close range with his rifle," the Army said. In Vietnam, it was used to take out bunkers and even buildings. Estimates of the total number of deaths in the Vietnam War vary widely. (1999) mentioned that before 1965, the fighting by the United States (U.S.) Soldiers in Vietnam had been in minor skirmishes with Viet Cong (VC) troops conducting hit-and-run counterinsurgency operations. "Triumph Regained: The Vietnam War, 1965-1968." It began as a street brawl between American colonists and a lone British soldier, but quickly escalated to a chaotic, bloody slaughter. The Paris Davis Interactive Medal of Honor Story. RetMilRob 5 mo. [32] and studies have shown higher rates of casualties, health effects, and next-generation birth defects in Vietnamese peoples. yaki kadafi daughters. [25], Operating under the direction of the CIA and other US and South Vietnamese Intel organizations and carried out by ARVN units alongside US advisers was the Phoenix Program, intended to neutralise the VC political infrastructure, whom were the civilian administration of the Viet Cong/Provisional Revolutionary Government via infiltration, capture, counter-terrorism, interrogation, and assassination. These were infants, two- three-, four-, five-year-olds, women, very old men, no draft-age people whatsoever, Thompson stated at a My Lai conference at Tulane University in 1994. [69], There has been considerable controversy about the exact numbers of deaths inflicted on the Communist side by U.S. and allied South Vietnamese forces. One! Since there were no roads, I was assigned as a squad leader on the 81mm mortars. It did not go well for the VC. Thompson and his crew flew dozens of survivors to receive medical care. . While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. He further suggests that 222,000 civilians may have been counted as enemy military deaths by the U.S. in compiling its "body count" raising the total to 627,000 killed. [102] The Red Cross of Vietnam estimates that up to 1 million people are disabled or suffer health problems due to Agent Orange exposure. Among the American troops still in Vietnam, morale was low, and anger and frustration were high. [46], The ROK Capital Division reportedly perpetrated the Bnh An/Ty Vinh massacre in February/March 1966. Kill Three! US jobless claims climb for first time in 5 weeks, to 353,000. . A U.S. Marine officer teaches a Vietnamese recruit to use a grenade launcher. Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. However, from a constitutional perspective, this conflict did not technically count as a war. The U.S. Constitution grants Congress sole authority to issue declarations of war. War and Conflict, The Vietnam War, pic: October 1965, Chu Lai, South Vietnam, Two US, marines drag away a dead Viet Cong from a river after he had. But it was mostly done with a machine gun. The following is a chart of all casualties, listed by race, and in descending order. Paratroopers of the U.S. 2nd Battalion, 173rd Airborne Brigade hold their automatic weapons above water as they cross a river in the rain during a search for Viet Cong positions in the jungle area of Ben Cat, South Vietnam, Sept. 25, 1965. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. By the time the My Lai massacre ended, 504 people were dead. For this figure, Guenter Lewy assumes that one-third of the reported enemy killed may have been civilians, concluding that the actual number of deaths of the VC and PAVN military forces was probably closer to 444,000. The Army would later charge only 14 men, including Calley, Captain Ernest Medina and Colonel Oran Henderson, with crimes related to the events at My Lai. Nonetheless, the U.S. Army began an internal investigation of the incident. At the time Captain Davis returned from war, the country is still battling segregation. That was a very unusual way to use a 106 recoilless rifle, but it did the job. is zoro stronger than naruto; hemudu monitor stand instructions; parents leave april 2021; verticutting tifeagle greens; find your birthday twin celebrity Davis received the award for his actions during a battle in Bong Son, Republic of Vietnam, June 17-18, 1965, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. "He said that it was overrun by the Viet Cong. These estimates probably include deaths of Vietnamese soldiers in Laos and Cambodia, but do not include deaths of South Vietnamese and allied soldiers which would add nearly 300,000 for a grand total of 3.4 million military and civilian dead. Once I had the shot lined up, we loaded a 35-pound white phosphorus round into the gun. Now don't give me any crap about not being in Viet Nam. United States Navy SEALs are members of a special operations unit in the armed forces. The inquiry, headed by Lieutenant General William Peers, released its report in March 1970 and recommended that no fewer than 28 officers be charged for their involvement in covering up the massacre. [70], RJ Rummel estimates 1,011,000 PAVN/VC combatant deaths. Few areas of the world have been as hotly contested as the India-Pakistan border. Now injured several times over, Davis saw two American comrades seriously hurt, but across enemy lanes of fire. And that's the saving grace I'm so thankful for," he said. [33][34] The United States government has challenged these figures as being unreliable. Vietnam's government claimed that 400,000 people were killed or maimed as a result of after effects, and that 500,000 children were born with birth defects. We reloaded another white phosphorous round. In 1982 the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C., inscribed with the names of 57,939 members of U.S. armed forces who had died or were missing as a result of the war. On Feb. 16, 1967, I was wounded while taking part in Operation Sam Houston in Kontum Province. In 1976, the Vietnamese government organized Gathering Teams to find the remains of dead soldiers. A notorious military operation called Speedy Express killed thousands of Vietnamese civilians in the Mekong Delta, earning the commander of the operation, Major General Julian Ewell, the nickname the Butcher of the Delta.. Calculating U.S. Webb and another soldier moved on to a second bunker; this time, a grenade sprayed him with shrapnel, but he detonated a claymore at the bunker's entrance, killing two Viet Cong. (AP) Flag-draped coffins of eight American Servicemen killed in attacks on U.S. military installations in South Vietnam, on February 7, are placed in . [60] Prior to the 1975 spring offensive, at least 5,336 ARVN were captured, being released in the aftermath of the Paris Peace Accords. The United States had provided funding, armaments, and training to South Vietnams government and military since Vietnams partition into the communist North and the democratic South in 1954. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. Davis tackled the enemy and "defeated" him -- as the Army euphemistically puts it -- with his bare hands. Most of the area consisted of rice paddies. 1 went to vietnam 2 killed the viet congis sea bass a bony fish to eat. The above figures on missing and wounded were calculated using Hanoi's declared casualty ratios for the period of 1945 to 1979, during which time the Communists incurred 1.1 million killed, 300,000 missing, and 600,000 wounded. A NEW DOCUMENTARY called Unclaimed claims to introduce the world to former Army Sergeant John Robertson, lost over Vietnam in 1968 . [66][67] After the U.S.'s withdrawal from the conflict, the Pentagon estimated PAVN/VC deaths at 39,000 in 1973 and 61,000 in 1974. Army officials said they cannot determine whether any records were lost, or under what circumstances. [45], Air force captain, Brian Wilson, who carried out bomb-damage assessments in free-fire zones throughout the delta, saw the results firsthand. November 2, 2021 . [53][54] A separate study was carried out by RAND Corporation employee Terry Rambo, who conducted interviews in 1970 on reported Korean atrocities in ARVN/civilian areas. U.S. soldiers hold a memorial service for seven men of the U.S. 101st Airborne Brigade in a clearing near a former French rubber plantation in Lai Khe, Vietnam, Dec. 17, 1965. The total number of officer casualties, commissioned and warrant, are 7,877. As Billy Cole, Davis' commanding officer, arrives on the battlefield, Cole spots Davis carrying Waugh fireman-style. -More and more troops were sent to Veitnam, caused large amounts of anti war movments in the United States. In 1965 alone they comprised 14.1% of total combat deaths, when they only comprised approximately 11% of the total U.S. population in the same year. When they arrived shortly after dawn, the soldiersled by Lieutenant William Calleyfound no Viet Cong. In 1998, Thompson and two other members of his crew received the Soldiers Medal, the U.S. Armys highest award for bravery not involving direct contact with the enemy. Those who argue that the United States won the war point to the fact that the U.S. defeated communist forces during most of Vietnams major battles. The two Vietnams (1954-65) Vietnam (1954-76) The agreements concluded in Geneva between April and July 1954 (collectively called the Geneva Accords) were signed by French and Viet Minh representatives and provided for a cease-fire and temporary division of the country into two military zones at latitude 17 N (popularly called the 17th parallel). The Heroes of My Lai. The 106mm recoilless rifle is a flat-trajectory weapon and its main purpose is to engage tanks. Footnote: The last U.S. serviceman to die in combat in Vietnam, Lt. Col. William B. Nolde, was killed by an artillery shell at An Loc, 60 miles northwest of Saigon, only 11 hours before the. [77] Additionally, according to the U.S. military, they also lost up to 101,511 personnel as defectors due to the Chieu Hoi program,[78] but one analyst speculates that less than 25% of those were genuine. Two, killed the Vietcong Civilian deaths were partly caused by assassinations, massacres, and terror tactics. From there, the Aussies spread their recon patrol range by several kilometers. By 1969 more than 500,000 U.S. military personnel were stationed in Vietnam. "They gave us some information -- exactly where the preponderance of the troops were. The coverup of the My Lai Massacre continued until Ron Ridenhour, a soldier in the 11th Brigade who had heard reports of the massacre but had not participated, began a campaign to bring the events to light. But according to Davis, requests for his award to be upgraded to a Medal of Honor were inexplicably lost by the Army twice over the years. Ho Khang, ed, Marilyn Young. In Vietnam, it was used to take out bunkers and even buildings. Chapter 17 index: "Communists provided further corroboration of the proximity of their casualty figures to American figures in a postwar disclosure of total losses from 1960 to 1975. (AP Photo/Henri Huet) He estimates that between 30 and 46% of the total war deaths were civilians. Accurate assessments of PAVN/VC losses, he wrote, were 'largely impossible due to lack of disclosure by the Vietnamese government, terrain, destruction of remains by firepower, and [inability] to confirm artillery and aerial kills.' There were at least two platoons involved in the fighting there, an infantry platoon and a cavalry platoon. [57], The ARVN suffered 254,256 recorded combat deaths between 1960 and 1974, with the highest number of recorded deaths being in 1972, with 39,587 combat deaths. Several weeks later, we were at the water purification site listening to the radio when we heard second platoon in a firefight. I saw it fly through the air, and this time I saw it go directly in the cave. The villagers were rounded up into groups as the soldiers inspected their huts. President Joe Biden stands with Vietnam War veteran, Retired US Army Colonel Paris Davis, before awarding him the Medal of Honor, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on March 3, 2023. The Vietnam war took a major death toll in Vietnam, United States, South Korea, Thailand, New Zealand, and Australia. [1] Background [ edit] By the end of their time in Vietnam, the unit performed 1,200 combat patrols with one killed in action . Everywhere wed look, wed see bodies. "We knew that we were going to run into a hornet's nest," he recalled. "It was the epitome of immoralityOne of the times I counted bodies after an air strikewhich always ended with two napalm bombs which would just fry everything that was leftI counted sixty-two bodies. For the period of the Vietnam War the totals are 1,310,000 between 1955 and 1964, 1,700,000 between 196574 and 810,000 between 1975 and 1984. Per war: 191,605 deaths in the First Indochina War, 849,018 deaths in the Second Indochina War (Vietnam War), and 105,627 deaths in the Third Indochina War. Make sure your selection
After Nguyen Ngoc Loan raised his sidearm and shot Vietcong operative Nguyen Van Lem in the head he walked over to the . I did not like that job and soon volunteered to go out with the infantry as a forward observer for the mortars. [40][37] Sometimes civilian casualties from airstrikes or artillery barrages against villages were reported as "enemies killed". They fought them of by 'sxty-eight, And then they had to fight the NVA. We met no resistance and I only saw three captured weapons. Among the victims were 182 women17 of them pregnantand 173 children, including 56 infants. Lewy reduced the number of Viet Cong (VC) and People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) battle deaths claimed by the U.S. by 30 percent (in accordance with the opinion of United States Department of Defense officials), and assumed that one third of the reported battle deaths of the PAVN/VC may have actually been civilians. Time magazine, in an April 12, 1968, article titled "Victory at Khe Sanh," reported General William Westmoreland, commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam, after flying into Khe Sanh by helicopter, declaring: "We took 220 killed at Khe Sanh and about 800 wounded and evacuated. Davis leads assault in the early morning at Bong Song, clearing an enemy headquarters hut. Los Angeles Times. My 106mm recoilless rifle squad consisted of our squad leader, a Sgt. https://www.historynet.com/vietnam-recoilless-rifle/, Jerrie Mock: Record-Breaking American Female Pilot, When 21 Sikh Soldiers Fought the Odds Against 10,000 Pashtun Warriors, Few Red Tails Remain: Tuskegee Airman Dies at 96. The 2nd Marine Brigade reportedly perpetrated the Binh Tai Massacre on 9 October 1966. Cleveland Plain Dealer. All Rights Reserved. In 1968 US soldiers murdered several hundred Vietnamese civilians in the single most infamous incident of the Vietnam War. Heavy street fighting had pitched Saigon into chaos when South Vietnamese military caught a suspected Viet Cong squad leader, Nguyen. The operation killed 23 U.S. servicemen, seven Vietnamese civilians, and two of the Viet Cong attackers. Commander George L. Jackson said, "In response to this criticism, the Department of Defense took steps to readjust force levels in order to achieve an equitable proportion and employment of Negroes in Vietnam." Two years later, the Chinese recognized Vietnam's independence. The Australian SASR first came in contact with the enemy in May, 1966, when they met a Viet Cong force in the area around Nui Dat. They were shooting women and children just like anybody else, Sgt. Johnson raised the number of South Vietnam deployments to 23,000 U.S. soldiers by the end of his first year in office. This group was made up almost entirely of either working-class or rural youth. Quote, 'America was behind me. E6 while there. He received his B.A. PAVN and VC losses were reported as 1.1 million dead and civilian deaths of Vietnamese on both sides totaled 2.0 million. By Spencer C. Tucker ", Viet Cong and Peoples Army of Vietnam use of terror in the Vietnam War, Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam, United Nations High Commission for Refugees, Vietnamese Casualties During the American War: A New Estimate, "Fifty years of violent war deaths from Vietnam to Bosnia: analysis of data from the world health survey programme", "20 Years After Victory, Vietnamese Communists Ponder How to Celebrate", http://www.pcr.uu.se/research/ucdp/datasets/ucdp_prio_armed_conflict_dataset/, http://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a032189.pdf, Countering Terrorism and Insurgency in the 21st Century, Final Solutions: Mass Killing and Genocide in the 20th Century. easy knit baby hat on two needles; cia medical disqualifications; 1 went to vietnam 2 killed the viet cong. "But sadly, we know they weren't. Among the allies, South Korea suffered the highest casualties with 4,407 killed in action 4; Australia had 500 5; Thailand . We have a great online selection at the lowest prices with Fast & Free shipping on many items! Meanwhile, the Soviet Union and China poured weapons, supplies, and advisers into the North, which in turn provided support, political direction, and regular combat troops for the campaign in the South. History remembers them as the last two American pilots to die in Vietnam, killed when their Marine Corps helicopter went into the South China Sea during the frantic . In March 1968, Charlie Companypart of the Americal Divisions 11th Infantry Brigadereceived word that VC guerrillas had taken control of the neighboring village of Son My. When he later read the official tally of dead, he found that it listed them as 130 VC killed. It is estimated that 40,000 South Vietnamese civilians were assassinated by the People's Army of Vietnam /Viet Cong. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Nguyen Ngc Loan died of cancer on 14 July 1998, aged 67, in Burke, Virginia. The paratroopers had been searching the area for 12 days with no enemy contact. [101], Agent Orange and similar chemical defoliants have also caused a considerable number of deaths and injuries over the years, including among the US Air Force crew that handled them. Tan Son Nhut Air Base was one of the major air bases used for offensive air operations within South Vietnam and for the support of United States Army and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) ground operations. He never landed, and I never kicked his ass," Davis said. The most prominent of these events were the Hu Massacre and the M Lai Massacre. "I wish I could say that this story of Paris sacrifice on that day in 1965, was fully recognized and rewarded immediately," Biden said. Jim Liles used his 106mm recoilless rifle to take out an enemy machine gun crew. [95] Of the 27 million draft-age men between 1964 and 1973, 40% were drafted into military service, and only 10% were actually sent to Vietnam. I looked through the scope on the 106 and could see Purple Heart Mountain. I have picked up wisp from time to time. Oct. 14, 2004 -- -- In the controversy over Sen. John Kerry's service in Vietnam, Americans have heard from Kerry, from the crew of the Navy Swift boats he commanded and from other Swift boat veterans who question the official account of a 1969 incident for which Kerry was awarded a Silver Star. Our first operation, Operation Seward, took place in the vicinity of Tuy Hoa. The number of these "boat people" leaving Vietnam and arriving safely in another country totalled almost 800,000 between 1975 and 1995. He then consolidated his men to pull back and, while calling for artillery and aircraft attacks against the defenders, was hit by automatic weapons fire. [45] One example cited by Turse is Operation Speedy Express, an operation by the 9th Infantry Division, which was described by John Paul Vann as, in effect, "many My Lais". On a run (on a run) [55] Widespread reports of deliberate mass killings by Korean forces alleged that they were the result of systemic, deliberate policies to massacre civilians, with murders running into the hundreds. Huts were set on fire, and anyone inside who tried to escape was gunned down. The brutality of the My Lai massacre and the official cover-up fueled anti-war sentiment and further divided the United States over the Vietnam War. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. RF JTNXCX - Four Vietnamese and three Americans were killed, and dozens of Vietnamese buildings were heavily damaged during a Viet Cong bomb attack against a multi-story U.S. officers billet in Saigon. Soldier of the 25th Infantry Division and his scout dog walk past the bodies of more than 50 Viet Cong killed in the "battle of Good Friday" 80 miles. A 1975 US Senate subcommittee estimated around 1.4 million civilian casualties in South Vietnam because of the war, including 415,000 deaths. Between October 1966 and June 1969, 246,000 soldiers were recruited through Project 100,000, of whom 41% were black; black people only made up about 11% of the population of the US. But I kicked a lot of ass, and Four! [19] Rummel's mid-level estimate includes 17,000 South Vietnamese civil servants killed by PAVN/VC. [75], The PAVN/VC forces suffered around 600,000 wounded during the war,[76] and prior to the 1975 spring offensive, lost at least 26,880 soldiers taken prisoner - being released after the 1973 Peace Accords. Civilian deaths were also caused by mortar and artillery, extensive aerial bombing and the use of firepower in military operations conducted in heavily populated areas. I told my squad sergeant I thought I could fire a 106 round into the cave. In late 1967, when Mathews . While I was in training, my motivation was to get these wings and I wear them today proudly, the airman recalled in 2015. The My Lai massacre is often held to have been an aberration but. [11][12][13][14] It was difficult to distinguish between civilians and military personnel in many instances as many individuals were part-time guerrillas or impressed laborers who did not wear uniforms. Album: Run to Cadence with the U.S. Marines, Vol. Where: In Cholon, the Chinese section of Saigon, Vietnam. -Attack by VC and NVA. By nearly every metric, the Vietnam War was, in the common sense of the word, a war. Col. Paris Davis speaks with ABC News on the day before his Medal of Honor ceremony. The conflict energized anti-British sentiment read more, In what became known as the Munich Massacre, eight terrorists wearing tracksuits and carrying gym bags filled with grenades and assault rifles, breached the Olympic Village at the Summer Games in Munich before dawn on September 5, 1972. Da Nang was the primary storage site of the chemical. ", Picking up the story, he continued, "And although the men who were with him on that June day immediately nominated Captain Davis to receive the Medal of Honor, somehow the paper -- the paperwork was never processed, not just once, but twice. Run to Cadence with the U.S. Marines, Vol. "UCDP/Prio Armed Conflict Database", Uppsala University, sfn error: no target: CITEREFRummel1997 (. The attack on the prisoner of war camp resulted in about 26 North Vietnamese dead and no U.S. or South Vietnamese casualties. Eighteen Australians were killed - 17 from D Company and one from the 1st Armoured Personnel Carrier Squadron. From refugee camps in Southeast Asia, the great majority of boat people were resettled in more developed countries. The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. They are forever remembered on the Navy SEAL Memorial at the Museum. He refused. [35], For official US military operations reports, there was no established distinctions between enemy KIA and civilian KIA. It was a fraction of a second that jolted Americans' view of the Vietnam War. Tensions escalated into armed conflict between the two sides, and in 1961 U.S. President John F. Kennedy chose to expand the military aid program. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, but his successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, continued the work that Kennedy had started. During the Vietnam War, Builder et al. [98], Unexploded ordnance continue to detonate and kill people today. Democide is the murder of persons by or at the behest of governments. I never killed no Viet Cong Three! 1, 2, 3, 4 United States Marine Coprs, History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. On the home front in the United States, the brutality of the My Lai massacre and the efforts made by higher-ranking officers to conceal it exacerbated anti-war sentiment and increased the bitterness toward the U.S. military presence in Vietnam. Other atrocities, such as a similar massacre of villagers at My Khe, are less well known. The My Lai trial began on November 17, 1970. [22], Thomas Thayer in 1985 estimated that during the 196572 period the VC killed 33,052 South Vietnamese village officials and civil servants.[23]. This time I cranked the gun down two clicks and fired the second round. [26] The program resulted in an estimated 26,000 to 41,000 killed, with an unknown number possibly being innocent civilians.